15 December 2010

Black on leaving Codemasters, Bodycount

Stuart Black’s departure from Codemasters in October was a mysterious one. The move was announced over the summer, but neither the game designer or Codemasters ever shined any light on the separation. Now though, we have Black’s side of the story.

“An agreement was broken. No one really wanted to fix it. I decided to move on,” Black told GameSpot in a recent chat, calling the decision to leave the hardest of his career.

Black was in the midst of heading the development of a new first-person shooter property, Bodycount, for the publisher.

He added: “It was clear that Codemasters were unable, or unwilling, to provide the support needed to realize the vision I had for Bodycount. Some of the marketing initiatives and trailers were not, in my opinion, doing justice for the game.”

Black has since moved to City Interactive and is currently working on a CryEngine 3-powered World War II shooter. Expect something different though: “We want to get away from the usual, reverential treatment. If I hear one more trumpet refrain over a somber front end or see another Thompson machine gun, I’m going to put my pad through the screen.”

“We want to invoke the spirit of films like The Dirty Dozen, Where Eagles Dare, The Guns of Navarone, and a bit of Inglourious Basterds.”

The game is “right at the start of development,” Black says, so no further details on it just yet.